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Sternemann, Elmar; Jostmeier, Thorben; Ruppert, Claudia; Duc, Huynh Thanh; Meier, Torsten; Betz, M.

doi:10.1103/physrevb.88.165204

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…We study the scaling of the charge signal with pulse duration and electric field strength. Our results are well reproduced by a model developed by Khurgin [20], which is based on interfering multiphoton transitions in the nonlinear medium, highlighting the similarities to coherent control experiments [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. Accurate modelling of the experimental data requires careful characterization of the laser pulse used in the measurements, which is provided by the dispersion-scan technique [31,32].…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 72%

“…Several models explaining the underlying physical mechanism behind this phenomenon have been proposed [18][19][20][21]. Similarities to coherent control experiments of interfering multiphoton transitions driven in semiconductors by two-color fields [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] have also been pointed out.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 60%

“…Conversely, lightwave-driven currents could be used to extract temporal properties of the driving pulses, without the need of a two-pulse pump-probe experiment [11,12,14]. The measured features can be well reproduced by a model solely based on interference of nonlinear effects of different parity, thus highlighting similarities to coherent control schemes of photo-injecting carriers [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. Due to its wide use in conventional integrated electronics, GaN is an interesting candidate for implementing nano-structured devices or more complex electrode geometries, which potentially allow for lightwave-based logic.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Few-cycle lightwave-driven currents in a semiconductor at high repetition rate

Langer¹,

Liu²,

Ren³

et al. 2020

Optica

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When an intense, few-cycle light pulse impinges on a dielectric or semiconductor material, the electric field will interact nonlinearly with the solid, driving a coherent current. An asymmetry of the ultrashort, carrier-envelope-phase-stable waveform results in a net transfer of charge, which can be measured by macroscopic electric contact leads. This effect has been pioneered with extremely short, single-cycle laser pulses at low repetition rate, thus limiting the applicability of its potential for ultrafast electronics. We investigate lightwave-driven currents in gallium nitride using few-cycle laser pulses of nearly twice the duration and at a repetition rate two orders of magnitude higher than in previous work. We successfully simulate our experimental data with a theoretical model based on interfering multiphoton transitions, using the exact laser pulse shape retrieved from dispersion-scan measurements. Substantially increasing the repetition rate and relaxing the constraint on the pulse duration marks an important step forward towards applications of lightwave-driven electronics.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 72%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 60%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Few-cycle lightwave-driven currents in a semiconductor at high repetition rate

Langer¹,

Liu²,

Ren³

et al. 2020

Optica

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“…2(b), (c), (e), and (f). For bulk GaAs the relevance of phase-space filling effects in limiting the perturbative χ (3) -scaling of two-color injection currents has been confirmed recently 31 and it can therofore be expected that also for shift and rectification currents nonperturbtive signatures should be observable.…”

Section: A [110]-oriented Quantum Wellsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Ultrafast shift and rectification photocurrents in GaAs quantum wells: Excitation intensity dependence and the importance of band mixing

et al. 2016

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A microscopic approach that is based on the multisubband semiconductor Bloch equations formulated in the basis of a 14-band k · p model is employed to compute the temporal dynamics of photocurrents in GaAs quantum wells following the excitation with femtosecond laser pulses. This approach provides a transparent description of the interband, intersubband, and intraband excitations, fully includes all resonant as well as off-resonant excitations, and treats the light-matter interaction non-perturbatively. For linearly polarized excitations the photocurrents contain contributions from shift and rectification currents. We numerically compute and analyze these currents generated by the excitation with femtosecond laser pulses for [110]-and [111]-oriented GaAs quantum wells. It is shown that the often employed perturbative χ (2) -approach breaks down for peak fields larger than about 10 kV/cm and that non-perturbative effects lead to a reduction of the peak values of the shift and rectification currents and to temporal oscillations which originate from Rabi flopping. In particular, we find a complex oscillatory photon energy dependence of the magnitudes of the shift and rectification currents. Our simulations demonstrate that this dependence is the result of mixing between the heavy-and light-hole valence bands. This is a surprising finding since the bandmixing has an even larger influence on the strength of the photocurrents than the absorption coefficient. For [110]-oriented GaAs quantum wells the calculated photon energy dependence is compared to experimental results and a good agreement is obtained which validates our theoretical approach.

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“…The framework in which we describe the charge generation is Optical Bloch equations (OBE's) [30] which were expanded to the semiconductors in works [31][32][33][34][35]. In these works, OBE's have been successfully applied to the cases of charge and spin currents in semiconductors and their heterostructures.…”

Section: Optical Bloch Equationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optically induced currents in dielectrics and semiconductors as a nonlinear optical effect

Khurgin

2015

J. Opt. Soc. Am. B

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We demonstrate theoretically that when well-below-the-bandgap femtosecond optical pulses propagate through a dielectric or semiconductor, DC current and charges are produced even though no real carriers are excited in the bands. The photo-induced current is a new ultra-fast nonlinear optical effect based on multi-photon quantum interference and creation of an asymmetric distribution of virtual carriers in the conduction and valence bands. We establish an unambiguous connection between the nonlinear optical conductivity responsible for the photo-induced DC currents and charges and the odd-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities of the material. We then apply our results to the recent experiments [1] in which photo-induced charges have been observed in SiO2 irradiated by belowthe-gap ultra-short optical pulses. Using a single well known measured value of the third order susceptibility (nonlinear index) of SiO2 we obtain excellent agreement with all the experimental data of [1]. A clear physical picture of the origin of the photo-induced currents and charges shows that the versatility of ultrafast (virtual) nonlinear optical phenomena extends even further than had been previously thought.

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Femtosecond quantum interference control of electrical currents in GaAs: Signatures beyond the perturbativeχ(3)limit

Cited by 13 publications

References 27 publications

Few-cycle lightwave-driven currents in a semiconductor at high repetition rate

Few-cycle lightwave-driven currents in a semiconductor at high repetition rate

Ultrafast shift and rectification photocurrents in GaAs quantum wells: Excitation intensity dependence and the importance of band mixing

Optically induced currents in dielectrics and semiconductors as a nonlinear optical effect

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